Wayne Bennett and future coach talk

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

How Rothfield has a job, ill never know.

Maybe he just gives great handjobs....

 

[Noname36]

How Rothfield has a job, ill never know.

Maybe he just gives great handjobs....

I know. The only think I could think while reading that was how f**king annoying Buzz is.

Has he, or anyone else calling for Stone to take over now, actually considered the implications of that? What if Stone doesn't get the gig next year? Then what? "Sorry Rick we've decided to go in another direction...oh but could you coach the side for the last few weeks of the season anyway? Thanks."

:crazy:

 

[perverse]

I know. The only think I could think while reading that was how f**king annoying Buzz is.

Haha, me too. Was thinking that even when he's asking shit I want the answer to, I can't stand the bloke. He's such a merkin.

 

[Pedge1971]

Hi,

I posted this on the NRL forum an I am in the process of reading all comments. It's easy to flog the man but if you look at it in his eyes, he has been screwed. If you look at his monetary motives he has left a difficult home situation to provide for his family with some very difficult (and expensive) circumstances.

Those who are parents, in the same situation what would you do? I would look after my kids. And no I am not Darius Boyd ( his brother maybe)

-------

If you want to blame someone for where we (Newcastle) are, it isn't Bennett. It is Nathan Tinkler.

Bennett's contract was with Tinkler. His directive from the owner was to bring local talent home. He did with Alex, Snowden and Willie as well as another few unsuccessful signings. His mandate was to bring on new talent. Where are the NSW Cup teams and 21's and juniors placed? Pretty well compared to the dark years.

We now have better facilities in Newie than most clubs. We made the top 8 under Stone with a team no one in the town identified with. I am not living in Newie anymore but I identify with this team far more than the Smith years.

Bennett has been good for us and given the Tinkler thin and his personal situation I wish him nothing but the best. He has been great for the town.

 

[Pedge1971]

Best wishes to you all. We are still the best supporters in the league and I am actually positive about the future. Our next coaching appointment is critical, but we are not that bad....

 

[Noname36]

Hi,

I posted this on the NRL forum an I am in the process of reading all comments. It's easy to flog the man but if you look at it in his eyes, he has been screwed. If you look at his monetary motives he has left a difficult home situation to provide for his family with some very difficult (and expensive) circumstances.

Those who are parents, in the same situation what would you do? I would look after my kids. And no I am not Darius Boyd ( his brother maybe)

-------

If you want to blame someone for where we (Newcastle) are, it isn't Bennett. It is Nathan Tinkler.

Bennett's contract was with Tinkler. His directive from the owner was to bring local talent home. He did with Alex, Snowden and Willie as well as another few unsuccessful signings. His mandate was to bring on new talent. Where are the NSW Cup teams and 21's and juniors placed? Pretty well compared to the dark years.

We now have better facilities in Newie than most clubs. We made the top 8 under Stone with a team no one in the town identified with. I am not living in Newie anymore but I identify with this team far more than the Smith years.

Bennett has been good for us and given the Tinkler thin and his personal situation I wish him nothing but the best. He has been great for the town.

Well said mate. You won't find many in here that do but I agree with you. While the results haven't been there, the club is absolutely in a better position due to Bennett's time here. Good point re the team being identifiable. While it's certainly not like the glory days when we had Johns, Chief, BK, etc I can certainly see people connecting much more with the team these days than they were during the Smith and following Stone years, and I reckon that's because we actually have some players now that people recognise. In 2009 we were flying on the field yet sadly nobody was going to watch.

The only part I don't agree with you about is Tinkler. In my view he didn't screw us up at all. Yes it all turned sour and we have to go through this transition period, but I do think he had our best interests at heart. He cleared our debt and now being run by the NRL we have the potential to grow into the professional club we always wanted. That never would have happened if Tinkler didn't come in to begin with. We'd still be plodding along accumulating debt each year.

I don't really understand why everyone is signalling doom and gloom for us. We have a decent squad if the new coach can get them firing...and any adequate coach should be able to with the players hopefully wanting to redeem themselves after this year. All the new coach has to do is come in with a couple of props and and he's good to go with a wealth of junior talent at his disposal and the NRL handling the big issues off the field.

 

[The Showstopper]

No one is signalling doom but it is hard to go back to the pack when you were promised complete success and culture rebirth and you were given anything but. I have empathy for Bennett but I also feel he has walked away from the fight for a tailor made premiership squad. I can see them winning a title under Bennett. It is that Queensland thing. They love their messiahs.

 

[aqua_duck]

I honestly don't see how we're in a better position now than 3 years ago. When Bennett took over we were a top 8 team, now we're 14th with an older roster. I don't see how the team is any more identifiable?
Stone and Smith had shoe string budgets and did a decent job, Bennett has infinitely better resources because of Tinkler, the problem is Bennett's goals and vision was aimed at short term success rather than sustained consistent success. Over Bennett's reign the recruitment was mainly aimed at bandaid solutions like Smith, Mason, Faalogo, Quinn, Tahu, Newton, Gower, Dobson, etc. the only players under 30 he recruited were those who got sacked from their previous clubs

 

[perverse]

Our 20's are miles ahead. Bennett is great at fine tuning development pathways and systems. The most impressive thing about the 20's for me isn't their skill, it's their attitude and mateship. They play for each other. I can see a lot instilled in our 20's that we all wish was instilled in the top grade... and I think that attitude can filter through if given time and nurtured.

The club is very rotten to the core at NRL level, but if we can breed the next crop the right way and put the right attitude in them then it can go a long way to fixing us long term.

I do think the guy had a plan. I think he wanted quick success and went out to buy a premiership whilst fixing us from the ground up behind the scenes - hoping the next crop could come through and continue on what he started in the top grade. Unfortunately, the NRL team fell on it's arse and he couldn't make that work.

 

[Noname36]

I honestly don't see how we're in a better position now than 3 years ago. When Bennett took over we were a top 8 team, now we're 14th with an older roster.

In 2011 we were just a top 8 team, and hadn't won a finals game since Johns retired. We couldn't sign a decent player to save ourselves (of any age) and we couldn't rely on our juniors to fill the gaps because we had absolutely none coming through. Zip. The older roster thing and being screwed is also highly objective because if I recall our best player for the few years before Bennett took over was Adam MacDougall.

I think people are letting our performances this year romanticise how well we were going before Bennett took over. There was a hell of a lot of bitching from fans if I recall. You're right, Smith and Stone did a "decent" job, but I want more than decent and for the first time in a long time I think the club is trying to make that happen for the future.

Yes we have some problems in the forward pack at the moment. We all know that...but realistically all we need to do is get a couple of decent props in and get rid of Mason, Fa'alogo and maybe Houston. For all the complaints about the squads age, the only player in the pack that's over the hill is Mason. Smith and Scott are still going fine and we've signed a younger back rower in Tariq. It's not like we're Canberra and have problems in every position.

The current personnel issues are easy to fix, especially when we have some wonderful juniors coming through fighting for positions. We just need to get a coach in that can motivate them after this year (shouldn't be hard) and get them playing to their strengths and we'll be fine. I'm highly optimistic about the future (providing they don't employ a complete derp to coach).

I don't see how the team is any more identifiable?

I just see people connecting and getting much more passionate about the players these days. Look at someone like Mason. He's at the end of his career here, and yet he still gets a huge response by fans at games. A kid like Roberts who isn't a big name gets a tonne of cheers when the ground announcer says he's coming on. Even look at Boyd. When he gets the ball people react. It's not always positive but still people are reacting. Did any fans respond to any of the forwards during Smith and Stone's reign like they do Mason or Jeremy Smith? Nope. Not even close. Apart from Doogs and Uate, very few players during those periods got any response from the fans. In fact I remember watching a couple of games with my Grandad whose been an avid Knights supporter since inception and probably 10+ times each game he had to ask me who a player was.

It's hard to build support for the side when nobody can identify or even recognise some of the players. Fans lost the passion when the club's iconic players left. Even during the last years under Smith when we were going well I remember a heap of people in the media questioning why nobody in Newcastle cared and blokes like Johns were on the Footy Show begging people to get to games.

Also these days it just seems okay to support the Knights again. I live in Sydney now but still spend a lot of time in Newcastle and in both places I've seen a lot of Knights jerseys around...even this year when the team is going terribly. I remember a few years ago there was almost this unsaid belief that you were "uncool" if you supported the Knights. There was never a jersey anywhere. Even at games there wasn't as many. People don't seem to believe that anymore though. I've seen more Knights jerseys around these days than I have in a very long time.

All that is just my personal perception obviously and I'm sure a lot will disagree.

 

[aqua_duck]

I think a lot of people forget the restraints that Stone and Smith were working with as opposed to Bennett, sure our juniors are going fine but I'd say the money being spent in that area I a major contributing factor, and let's not forget 3 years ago our nsw cup and NYC made the finals and SG Ball were national champs. Is the club as a whole in better shape? Ofcourse, but is that more due to Bennett or more due to the millions Tinkler pumped into the club before he went broke?
To me Bennett had a short term plan and a longer term hope (hence his 5 years for the juniors to come through comment), but there was no intermediate succession plan.
As for the team being more identifiable, I don't agree, I don't think there's been much of a noticeable difference besides the initial excitement when we first signed Bennett and for a 2 week period last year. In fact I'd argue the brand of football is less enjoyable to watch under Bennett.

 

[Noname36]

In fact I'd argue the brand of football is less enjoyable to watch under Bennett

I agree, but I was referring to the fans responding more to the players in the squad these days. Not the type of football the squad is playing.

Like I said, we were playing some sensational attacking footy in 2009 under Smith but nobody gave a shit. People had to be begged to go to games. I'd hazard a guess that was because most casual Knights fans had no flipping idea who half the side was. That's what I meant by the team being more identifiable these days. Most Knights fans seem to respond much more to familiar personalities than anything else.

 

[aqua_duck]

I'm not sure I agree it's because of the faces. Bennett has gotten a pretty easy ride from the media, Smith was the target of a disgraceful from witch hunt from Slothfield which in turn had an adverse effect on team perception.

 

[aqua_duck]

Also would you say fans 'identify' with blokes like Newton and Snowden?
Snowden cops more flak than most and Newton is universally despised

 

[perverse]

and Newton is universally despised

mmmm feels so good.

 

[Noname36]

I'm not sure I agree it's because of the faces. Bennett has gotten a pretty easy ride from the media, Smith was the target of a disgraceful from witch hunt from Slothfield which in turn had an adverse effect on team perception.

Um, the Newcastle media have been brutal on the club and every person involved with it for the past few years due to the anti-Tinkler agenda. Bennett certainly wasn't immune from that. The Herald was absolutely death-riding the club for 2.5 years. If the media was effecting people's views of the team during Smith's reign then it would be recently too.

And to be honest the hate for Newton seems to be contained to this forum and others. Even if it wasn't though at least people know who he and players like Snowy and Boyd are and care enough to actually give them shit. When I say "respond" it doesn't always mean positively...just showing a semblance of actually caring.

 

[aqua_duck]

I just don't understand how thats a positive. Penrith have a largely no name team and are doing great things, I'd much rather that than have a bunch of over the hill no heart 'big names'.
The herald haven't been kind to the knights but that is nothing compared to what Smith endured, I mean they were publishing fake letters from little girls asking for Smith's head FFS.
As for Newton, he's a f**king judas prick and the fact Bennett signed him showed he was out of touch with the fans

 

[Joker's Wild]

Saying that Smith, Scott, etc are "over the hill no hearts" is pretty harsh mate

 

[aqua_duck]

I was more referring to Darius. For the record I do believe Smith, whilst not exactly over the hill is on the downward spiral.

 

[perverse]

Smith is definitely on the decline, as he should be at his age... but still has the heart of a lion.